TOMMYT DE-TOUR --VNAHG

TOMMY T FREEDOM TOUR "DE"-Tour !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Colleagues, clients, friends, clients, teammates in JEF IG, CLIENTS, and the many people I have crossed paths with and have had the pleasure to serve from my seat as Head of Jefferies Investment Grade Credit;

Starting Monday, December 19th, I will be interim CEO of the Visiting Nurses Association Health Group. THE VNAHG(nj) CEO will be assuming the CEO role at the VNS of NY starting 1/1/12. VNAHG is doing a search for a new CEO, and i will lead that search as Board Chairman. I thought this was a unique moment in time, a once in a lifetime opportunity (or as you MS guys know it an "opportunity of SUPREME EXCELLENCE"), to step into the role and shoes and get to know the organization from the ground up instead of the board room. I am blessed to have this opportunity arise, and thankful that it has found me and I it.

Learning, leading, loving, a kind of "mini-sabbatical", on loan from Jefferies, who I ask for a leave of absence that has been granted and is supporting me while i work for $1 for my time as the active CEO and leader of the VNAHG. VNAHG, with its statewide partners, is NJ's largest non-profit home health-care and hospice provider from Cape May to Bergen County (2nd largest in the USA next to VNS of NY). The VNAHG will celebrate it's Centennial (100th year) anniversary on 6/23/12 at Ellis Island.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, great MLK and President's weekends, and...? that should be about it and then I will see you all again come Q2 of 2012 as skinnier, healthier, and more knowledgeable but still in absolute AWE of the health care providers that do this work. I extend all the blessing of the season to you and yours, I will miss NY and the job I love here, but look forward to an incredible opportunity to associate even closer with an absolutely amazing group at the VNAHG. Who knows, I might have to blog a bit given the amazing experiences I am anticipating, all in admiration of the mission of the VNA, which 3 months from now I will know so much better than I already do. Camino 2!

See you in 2012!!!!!!!!!, and in the meantime, know my teammates at JEF will continue to serve our clients with the integrity and care worthy of our opportunity.

tommyT TT

FIND THE COST 'of Freedom"!!!

7/27/11, and there I was once again at the Beacon Theatre for a concert for about the ??? 1000th time! yeah, that's about it, somewhere between 100 and 1000, from Robert Palmer, Hall & Oates, the month of March with the Allmans regularly, and the intermittent show by the SHOW STOPPERS of the day like Sade, David Bowie!, and too many to remember or recount--!!

and not far away was that bar where I first went into the New York club scene in 1978 where I went to see the Max Demian Band, and there I was with my brother the St. John's Pharmacy student and me standing in a crowd of about 50 people including this guy who looked like the guy on the cover of Ziggy Stardust!!! OMG, That's right, Yeah, I was 17yrs old and David Bowie and I were standing there watching the Mad MAX Demian band, and their album of "Take it to the MAX!" I'm like, Hey, that's David Bowie!!! And he looked at me, and he said,? "hey, are you "tommy toe?!"

Do i remember a song? I do, the name of the song was "Paradise" , and i said "GIRL, will we ever find our PARADISE!!!" so long ago, yet so easy to remembeR---

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKnnxvr4SM0

So, Here I am fast forward a mere 34 years and so much has flown by, and so much music, and so many concerts, and so much of life, and its just a Wednesday night, and it's the Beacon Theatre, and the ALLMAN's are on stage in JULY! - A Hep-C benefit , and the second set is about to begin, and David Crosby and Graham Nash take the stage, and they announce that Warren Haynes wants to do a specific song with them--

and it starts!

"Find the Cost of Freedom", buried in the ground

Mother Earth will swallow you, lay your body down.............................

and I am there with a few friends, and I'm thinking "ok, this is a first!

But i'm so concerned that this song, this music, this era of sincerity won't be passed on to ???

to my kids, their kids, the meaningfullness, the raw energy, etc

People, NO one should grow up hungry, in need of basic necessities or care, but equally so NO ONE should grow up without knowing "Teach Your Children", "Find the Cost of Freedom", and so much more non-Bruce music that I'm in awe of all there is to educate and appreciate our heritage that follows us.

Bob Dylan, Gregg Allman, David Crosby, Richie Furey, Jerry Garcia, Don Henley, it just goes on and on, and not that the male gender dominates, as Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks etc could just keep the list going.

I'm a bit melancholy tonight, this morning, easing into a GREAT vacation ahead, thinking of all that I have learned, asking myself if I am doing enough to ensure the appreciation for the next generation given how blessed we have been and we are--- without even mentioning my Life Road Map and Bruce!!!!

I going to do a lot of walking over the next week or so, and that in and of itself permits me the opportunity to give thanks for the "so much" I have been given, the "so much" i need to give, all the while still asking for continued blessings and safety and security of peace and space to , simply, appreciate

"Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground,

Mother Earth will swallow you, lay your body down"

Walk this Earth, know that cost, appreciate those that have paid that price, and there but for the grace of God go ........ you n me

On the verge of a family union event (its not a reunion, its just a get together!), a vacation, with

my kids, family , friends, walking the Earth in Italy--

Happy summer vacation, appreciating, respecting, knowing what i don't know, one thing of which is the cost of freedom!

peace

tt

HAPPILY EVER AFTER !!! WE CAN ONLY HOPE

February 27, 2011.

"Let me riddle you a ditty, it's just an itty bitty, little thing on my mind", so the song I'm listening to starts.

Wow, I haven't sat down and written a note in it seems like forever, and part of me says it's because I'm getting "older". That is why I try and listen to as much "young" music as I can,

to keep my mind fresh in the sounds and feelings of new writers and new sounds and beats. Hopefully, a few of these new tunes kick in while I am doing my workout to stay young and fit and it ends up motivating me and getting me thinking.

Well, that is just what happened this morning. So there I was with my IPod Nano on the treadmill listening to the band "He is We" and their song "Happily Ever After" that was a FREE ITunes song last week.

And this "itty bitty" entered my mind, and here go my fingers a'typin'.

The song is about the story of a boy and girl and the desire to rush to the end of the story to see if they "end up happily ever after" from their current adolescent age. Also, the message in the song suggest that each of us has a story to tell, which is somewhat obvious, but also obvious is that we don't get to rush to the ending of the story to find out IF happily ever after arrives, "do I end up happy?" as the last line says.

Intertwined with this song was this weekend's newspaper readings and the multiple stories being told about workers fighting for their rights, their turf, their union, their community, the American worker. And on the other side of it is the Tea Partyers and their cries for fiscal responsibility and lowering the tax burden of the American people. Peggy Noonan of the WSJ chimed in with her version of "Crisis-ism", which she suggests all of these new freshman congressman and congresswoman are fighting in Washington, because the old guard that have been there for so long think this "crisis" is the same as all the others so there really isn't any crisis (refer back to my "term limits note of March 2010!). It's always about guns and butter, and this time is no different?

Well, people occupying the state house with both points of view in Madison, WI, Trenton, NJ, and Indiana suggest those status quo "no real crisis" interpreters might be off their mark this time around.

If you have kids, and those kids are involved in school activities of any kind, but especially sports, you know this time IT IS DIFFERENT. Because schools aren't funding programs we all took for granted 10 years ago, 20 years ago, etc. Crew team in town is self-funded, after school activity is "self-funded" (this means you and I pay for it in addition to our taxes that pay for everything else, by the way). Just one example, but across our state and nation the choices are becoming increasingly complex as our fiscal burden and taxing authority measure up versus the engine we all have taken for granted, the American economic engine (you did see that Deutsche Borse is buying the New York Stock Exchange, right?).

NOW, I'm completely appreciative that one who has grown accustomed to certain benefits, privileges, and salary and pension structure considers those benefits to be sacrosanct and expected, such that they are entitled to their rightfully negotiated and earned benefits and pay. Problem is, the people who signed those agreements, on behalf of the taxpayers paying the bills, were beneficiaries of the exact same framework they were promoting for the public employees, only their (the legislators and public official) benefits are even better.

So, on one side of this story are the loyal public servants and employees who have earned and expect to receive those benefits, no matter how uneconomic or burdensome they become to the public at large (what if football or _____ (fill in your child's favorite currently funded activity) became an "option" for schools in NJ. i.e. "We don't believe the state / nation is bankrupt and we want our money"!

On the flip side, a few usually silent voters showed up at the polls this past November and at these same Statehouses to suggest that their burden is too great, that they are tired of paying for someone to lock in their pension based on their last three years pay (usually planned and manipulated strategically with overtime/appointments etc, if possible) while the real working world has already moved to a funded and defined benefit system.

So here we are, and I'm listening to this song and the last few lines talk about ...

" We all have our story to tell, whether we whisper or yell", the song says, and we all would like to know how it ends.

I know that we all have our point of view in this story, but for me the time has come to deal with the fact that for 30 years at the state and the national level, Democrat and Republican, we have burdened these same kids, the ones who have dreams about it all ending wonderfully well and happily ever after, with an economic death sentence that will, this time, be the spoiler in the story.

I want my American dream, my life's dreams, to be theirs' too. And I want those dreams to come true. REALLY.

American worker, and American people, to me are one and the same. And, our kids are OUR kids, and we have irresponsibly burdened them beyond measure, and it is time to deal with it....

because I want to know, and I want to skip to the ending, and I want someone to tell me if THEY, our kids, "End Up Happy".

WE all have our story to tell: union worker, public legislative official, Governor, teacher, retiree, executive, self-made millionaire, recipient of benefits, payer of taxes: Do I end up happy?

Author of the moment, can you tell me?

TommyT ,

PS. Credit to "He is We" for the song and its lyrics which launched the thoughts, and whose lyrics are cited and weaved in throughout- and for the kids, mine and yours, who the note is dedicated to.